Beirut Album Editorial: While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches Beiruts first album Gulag Orkestar is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native Zach Condon with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns violins cellos ukuleles mandolins glockenspiels drums tambourines congas organs pianos clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condons deep-voiced crooner vocals swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel.
